OLD DEVONPORT . UK
www.olddevonport.uk
 

©  Brian Moseley, Plymouth
Webpage created: June 11, 2019
Webpage updated: June 11, 2019

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THE ROYAL NAVY IN OLD DEVONPORT  |  ROYAL NAVAL BARRACKS  |  HMS "VIVID"

MAIN GATE AND CLOCK TOWER

The main gate of the Royal Naval Barracks and the prominent Clock Tower.
From a postcard.

The imposing Clock Tower at the Main Gate to the Royal Naval Barracks was completed on Thursday August 20th 1896.  It housed a clock supplied by Messrs Gillet and Johnston, of Croydon, Surrey, who are still in business.  This had four faces and a large bell, which struck the hours.  The Clock was driven by weights that ran the height of the structure plus many feet underground.

When completed the Clock Tower held a signal mast on its top, in direct communication with the Admiralty Signal Station at Mount Wise.

It is said that the Guard House at the Main Gate was the last building to be erected, in 1907, but there were two, one immediately inside the Main Gate on the left of the picture above, and the larger one at the base of the Clock Tower.  Which of these two this information refers to is not known.  Both existed in 1912.

(There was a third "Guard House" down by the Royal Naval Barracks' Jetty on Weston Mill Creek.)